Vitamin D Cuts COVID-19 Risk of Death in Half, New Study Finds. So Why Isn’t it Recommended?
Vitamin D cuts the risk of death from COVID-19 by 51% and the risk of ICU admission by 72%, a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials has found. The new study, published in Pharmaceuticals, is titled “Protective Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on COVID-19-Related Intensive Care Hospitalisation and Mortality: Definitive Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis”. Here’s the abstract, summarising the study’s method and results.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the world’s most important challenges for global public healthcare. Various studies have found an association between severe vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19-related outcomes. Vitamin D plays a crucial role in immune function and inflammation. Recent data have suggested a protective role of vitamin D in COVID-19-related health outcomes. The purpose of this meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis (TSA) was to better explain the strength of the association between the protective role of vitamin D supplementation and the risk of mortality and admission to intensive care units (ICUs) in patients with COVID-19.
Methods: We searched four databases on September 20th 2022. Two reviewers screened the randomised clinical trials (RCTs) and assessed the risk of bias, independently and in duplicate. The pre-specified outcomes of interest were mortality and ICU admission.
Results: We identified 78 bibliographic citations. After the reviewers’ screening, only five RCTs were found to be suitable for our analysis. We performed meta-analyses and then TSAs. Vitamin D administration results in a decreased risk of death and ICU admission (standardised mean difference (95% CI): 0.49 (0.34–0.72) and 0.28 (0.20–0.39), respectively). The TSA of the protective role of vitamin D and ICU admission showed that, since the pooling of the studies reached a definite sample size, the positive association is conclusive. The TSA of the protective role of vitamin D in mortality risk showed that the z-curve was inside the alpha boundaries, indicating that the positive results need further studies.
Discussion: The results of the meta-analyses and respective TSAs suggest a definitive association between the protective role of vitamin D and ICU hospitalisation.
Despite these highly positive results, the latest official guidelines from NICE still state that vitamin D is not recommended for the prevention of COVID-19. (NICE also doesn’t recommend the use of ivermectin or budesonide.) Yet remdesivir is recommended despite the WHO finding little or no effect. Will NICE now update its guidelines? I wouldn’t count on it.
Dr. John Campbell discusses the new study in a recent video, arguing the evidence on vitamin D is now conclusive and wondering why adequate vitamin D supplementation is not being officially promoted in the U.K. The fact that the MHRA is 86% industry-funded may have something to do with it, he suggests.
Stop Press: ‘Health Nerd’ thinks the study may be flawed. Read his critique here.
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Vitamin D is cheap and available, how on earth can big pharm make massive profits from that?
And there lieth the answer!
Just shows how much these gits really care about our health!
BINGO
You can’t fool me. I remember Matt Hancock saying in Parliament that Vitamin D doesn’t work, and he was advised by the BEST SCIENTISTS IN THE COUNTRY.
😀 😀 😀
I have taken high dose Vitamin D since the very first time that Covid hit Italy and I had read about the efficacy of Vitamin D. Simple analysis of the published Vitamin D deficiency around the world and the progress of Covid seemed to offer a correlation so it seemed a no brainer to me.
I last had a cold in November 2019 (with a horrible cough BTW) which may have been Covid, if indeed it was in Europe as now believed by some prior to the official narrative.
I had a moderate case of Covid Delta in December 2021 and to date have had no other colds or flu in over 3 years.
To my way of thinking this is a very strong indicator that Vitamin D should have been given recommended to everyone and especially those in care homes.
I am 71 years old.
Strangely, earlier on in the pandemic, I was chichester by my mother’s cats home to all permission to administer Vit. D, as it was ‘now recommended by the NHS’. I knew Vit.D was important for the immune system so of course said yes. Looking back though, I think the dose was quite low, much lower than the 4000/100ug recommended by John Campbell.
Initially NICE seemed to be relying on a literature review that didn’t include any studies of people with vitamin D deficiency, which was a way to put their blind eye to the telescope because deficiency is what seems to count with respiratory infections. Deficiency is very common, maybe 20% of people in the UK.
20% is a lower bound I would think. In New York City, with a lower latitude, doctors who test for Vitamin D are actually surprised when they find someone in the normal range!
I’ve long suffered from low vitamin D levels, which have made me susceptible to respiratory viruses. I went down with what was clearly COVID-19 at Christmas 2019. So did my Dad. I was really, really ill with it: three weeks of being ill dry, hacking cough, breathlessness, exhaustion, migraines, loss of senses of smell and taste, not that I was well enough to eat much – followed by more months of breathing issues and exhaustion. Significantly, the day before I went down with the virus, I’d been to the doctor, because I was tired all the time and my bones were aching. I’d been called in because the tests I’d had a week earlier had come back showing chronic low vitamin D levels. I was given a six month course to get my levels back up to scratch. I’d been up to London in the interim. Everyone working at the surgery went down with the same mystery virus over Christmas and New Year and when my Dad went in to see the nurse in January for some blood tests, she told him the surgery had been ‘inundated’ with calls about the mystery virus. Even at the time, I said this… Read more »
And how was that creep Hancock able to shut down debate by making his own totally unsubstantiated claims about it in Parliament?
Parliament itself was out of action. Voluntarily disempowered. It was virtually ‘rule by decree’
Was?
Even more intriguing – how was Hancock then able to issue homeopathic doses of Vit D to the elderly, albeit after the start of the winter infection season and briefly, and only in 2021, having denied it was any use a few months before? And how has that contradiction been memory-holed along with so many other incoherent policies?
Wow, he did that? Was that to confound things to make it look like the jabs were working?
I prefer to think of him as a mass murdering amoral scumbag personally.
Hatt Mancock has a LOT of blood on his hands, and a LOT to answer for!
Amen to that! I think that the ideal dose is 50,000 units once every week or two, especially during “broken immune system season” (aka cold and flu season), as VitaminDWiki recommends. That, and get plenty of sunshine and fresh air as well.
Vitamin C and Zinc are also very important too. And there was a Bangladesh study that found that those three nutrients alone would, in sufficient quantities for a sufficient number of people, reduce both Covid case and death rates to below-pandemic levels.
http://truespiritofamericaparty.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-pandemics-best-kept-secret.html
But that would make too much sense for the Branch Covidian cult, of course.
Also don’t forget Thiamine (Vitamin B1) and Niacin (B3) as well. And B12 too.
I asked a GP a few months ago about Vit B’ levels and he said a recent blood test had confirmed mine were OK but I would not do any harm by taking a B supplement so I do.
I wonder if the GP was trustworthy?
I’d say, in my non-expert opinion, taking a Vit B complex supplement isn’t going to do any harm because it’s water-soluble, like Vit C, so your body just excretes what it doesn’t need. It’s the fat-soluble ones you have to be more careful with. Mega doses of IV Vit C are hugely beneficial for certain disorders, for instance. Always best to get vits from food of course. Supplements unfortunately require various fillers added to keep them shelf-stable. These can be problematic for some people.
Back to vitamin D. It appears that it is “fat prevalent”, so those of us that carry a bit too much fat have a tendency to lock it up, even if taking a fair bit of it. So it is not a simple number re the beneficial quantities.
Unless you are able to source ‘clean’ supplements. There are a couple of companies (British Supplements & 5greens) in the UK who do so. The products aren’t cheap, but then is anything of quality ‘cheap’??
Amen to that. I’ve seen JC’s production on this issue. There has been an increase in the overall recommended amount on an NHS site – but only from 5 to 10 mcg per day. Well below the values recommended by JC and others.
The 10 mcg recommendation is only for rickets, a childhood bone disease that mostly disappeared in the 20th century. This dosage is totally insufficient for strengthening the immune system, which requires 10 times that much. It’s a ridiculous recommendation.
Agreed (although it doesn’t say so on the site mentioned). Actually, vitamin D was discovered in the past on account of investigations into the cause of rickets, and partially why the product of 25 mcg on offer by certain supermarkets is labelled “bone health”. Decent prices for it though.
The main thing now i think, especially when added to all the other stuff that’s being uncovered as proof people were completely lead up the garden path about, is to share the hell out of anything like this. It all helps speed up the crumbling of The Narrative, reveals the lies and misinformation spread by those the docile, dozy masses outsourced their decision making and common sense to and it’ll also help fuel the inevitable anger and pushback necessary to fight and topple the architects of this entire debacle since day 1. Imagine being multi jabbed because your gullible nature meant you believed what some shyster politician or other corrupt talking head told you, but all the while humble old Vit D ( and other stuff you can buy down the health food shop ) would’ve been actually better for you? All those jab injured and people who’ve lost loved ones to the toxic shots…they’re gonna be pissed man! And to have the reality dawn on you that the Conspiracy Theorists were right all along!😇 All one massive global con to get gene therapies in every arm. People naively getting kids jabbed based on scammy BS “science” spouted by those… Read more »
Completely agree. I didn’t find it hard to find out about Vitamin D – it just took a tiny bit of determination to look out for your own health. John Campbell for one was shouting about (and explaining in great detail why and how Vitamin D works to boost the immune system). As always the MSM were seriously captured and unwilling to share simple information with the public about how they could look after themselves. But at the end of the day too many people want the government to keep them safe and tell them what to do instead of taking the important step of recognising that you need to look after yourself.
Exactly that. And the great thing for us is that our JC has a huge following. I’m sure it’s grown larger since he was a Covidian. People like that make a meaningful difference and help influence the masses so I think him, along with the other big name truth-spreaders, are just gaining momentum in their mission as more and more experts join the ranks. I’m determined to feel positive about the future again this year and refuse to let one fake crisis after another get me down. As I’ve said before, all it takes is enough people to refuse to comply and a tipping point is inevitable because the power is in the collective. It shouldn’t be underestimated.
Very true indeed. Well said.
Apparently vitamin D3 combined with vitamin K is the best type/combination to take.
I can’t find K2 in H&B. I’m going to have to look online but keep forgetting…
You can get it from Healthspan (online). They also supply 1,000Iu (25ug) vittmin D tablets and zinc.
TY 🙂
They have it on Amazon
Try British Supplements for capsules or Project Nutrition for drops of D3+K2
https://www.british-supplements.net/
https://project-nutrition.co.uk/collections/vitamin-d/products/vitamin-d3-4000iu-k2-mk-7-liquid-drops-10-months-supply
The definition of Vitamin D deficiency seems unclear. Most seem to set it at 20ng/mL but a paper here advocates a level of more than 50ng/mL. I started with a daily dose of 4,000 IUs (international units) and that produced a level of 41.6ng/mL, so I upped it to 5,000 IUs per day and that got me to 50.6, so that’s what I’ve settled on. I believe that most GP surgeries won’t do a VitD test, so I paid for my own self test. I’m 87 years old, had Covid inearly July 2022, and it was a 5-day cold. Had another 5-day cold in October, nothing else. Unlike most vitamins, D cannot be obtained in sufficient amounts through diet – only sunshine gives you enough, and in lands of greater than 15 degrees latitude, the sun isn’t strong enough in winter months (Oct-Apr in the northern hemisphere), so a supplement is the only realistic solution. John Campbell is right: for NICE and our public health officials not to strongly advocate high dosage vitamin D for everyone is a scandal. The NHS could purchase this cheap and highly effective supplement at very little cost and give it away, and hospital admissions… Read more »
Very true
It is a good supplement to take but I am not sure how much actually gets absorbed if you just take the tablets with magnesium etc. I would take the supplements but don’t assume that you’ve ticked the box because of that. If you haven’t already looked at it then you should check light therapy on the internet. It makes a huge difference in terms of feelings of wellbeing and sometimes addressing particular localised conditions. You would be surprised at how much respectable material is out there in this area especially red light therapy. I can tell you from experience that for me it was a game changer and it is very cheap to obtain when compared with anything else. Like Sting said – Roxanne you don’t have to put on the red light, Roxanne you don’t have to sell your body to the night.
Not sure why you doubt absorption, although I do think that it’s worth doing the self blood test because everyone’s body is different and, in the end, it’s the amount in the bloodstream that matters, not how much you take. That’s true of UV-B absorption from sunlight as well: older and darker skin produces less vitamin D than younger and lighter skin.
I’m shocked to learn that NICE approves of remdesivir: it’s a pharmaceutical poison, damaging to the kidneys and often fatal:
Remdesivir and acute renal failure
Robert Kennedy: ‘Fauci had remdesivir in a study in Africa to see if it worked against Ebola. In 2019, the Data and Safety Monitoring Review Board (DSMB) monitored his work. Two months later, the board was saying it’s not safe, it’s killing people. It’s produced by the pharmaceutical company Gilead which Bill Gates has a huge stake in. Coronavirus does not kill 50% of people who get it whereas trials show that over 50% of people treated with remdesivir died.’
But NICE will now approve virtually everything:
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2022/12/31/drug-regulation-how-does-it-work/
Even the nurses call it “run death is near”.
Look at the price of Remdesivir and you will understand. The market share was already pre-calculated and they already knew about the death rate given its use in Ebola treatment. It formed part of a framwork consisiting of the idea that the patient is essentially already dead, ya know a bit like morphine and Midazolam and ventilators. It isn’t difficult to discern a pattern here.The point is that if you are provided with all the dots to reveal the mystery animal and you still don’t see it then you deserve to perish anyway according to their creed.
There is a reason the nurses call it “run death is near”, after all.
Eat oily fish two times a week even if it is jus tins fo salmon it makes a lot of difference. dark chocolate. There is an Ayurvedic herb called Arjuna which I reccomend for heart issues. Very beneficial when taken together with hawthorn. Feels a bit like an ACE inhibitor without the cough. And denshen or red sage. I compared this to big pharma heart drugs and it is way way better. Big pharma is trying to isolate the good bits but they won’t We are moving into a time where we will have to help people out who are having serious circulatory problelms on a mass scale. This is part of the war – shoot one person and pull another two off the battlefield who have to look after them. We acknowledege, absorb, and fight back
Kippers and sardines are my favorites.
One bright spot is that the public has finally started to grasp some things and ignores the ‘experts’, as one can tell by their voting with their feet.
First on skipping boosters, more and more on binning masks and, as one can tell by the many ads for it everywhere, even on Primetime TV, the public has also switched to swallowing Vitamin D pills big time since quite a while now.
Dr John Campbell has been recommending Vitamin D since the start of Covid. Building up natural immunity and a healthier lifestyle is a safeguard against a lot of conditions. Are children still told to eat their greens? Probably not. If they were, we would have less obesity and drug dependency in this country.
Promoting healthy products and food may soon be classed as medical misinformation. In the eyes of a psychopath health can only come from the end of a needle.
Stand in the Park Make friends & keep sane
Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am
Elms Field
near Everyman Cinema & play area
Wokingham RG40 2FE
Vitamin D is cheap and isn’t subject to any Patents. Can’t have “the peasants” looking after their own health, free from Health Bureaucrats’ control.
It’s also found in many of the foods the Government wants us to consume less of: eggs, dairy, fish, meat. Funny that ….. it’s almost like they WANT us to be less healthy.
Last week, I passed a vaccination shop in Wolverhampton. I couldn’t believe they still exist. It was empty with tumbleweed blowing through
High dose vitamin D (with a Vit K chaser) has been a recommendation for years for people with respiratory issues, virtually all cancers (especially breast cancer), osteoporosis, in higher latitudes and probably many other ailments too. Its a no brainer, so when Midazolam Matt said it didn’t work the dead rat in the bag really began to stink. Big Pharma has been buying up supplement companies for years now in order to manage and control supply. Along with numerous legislative efforts internationally to both restrict use and/or make additional supplementation prescription only (New Zealand is the latest), our choices regarding our own health are coming under increasing attack.
https://anh-usa.org/big-pharma-buying-up-supplement-companies/
FDA and supplements:
https://www.medsnews.com/health/why-is-fda-trying-to-ban-all-vitamins/
https://www.globalresearch.ca/big-pharma-wants-put-end-vitamins-supplements/5787198
NZ legislation: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2022/0204/latest/LMS706689.html
What about this statement in the paper “It is important that, to confirm the beneficial effect of vitamin D on mortality in the context of COVID-19, studies with a consistent sample size must be carried out, and the period of investigation, the duration of the vitamin D intervention, and the time until follow-up evaluations should be long enough to achieve adequate vitamin D serum levels. “
We know 99%+ of the population was not at risk of developing serious or fatal CoVid 19, therefore blanket Vitamin D cover would make no difference.
There is no evidence of widespread Vit D deficiency in the population.
Elderly people suffer appetite loss, and particularly with underlying health conditions, so will likely be deficient in a number of vitamins and anyway have impaired immune function, so a bit of Vit D is unlikely to make any difference.
Why can’t some folk get it through their thick skulls, that Covid 19 is a non-event, only a serious threat to a discreet cohort of population, mostly those at end of life, and otherwise in people who have other health conditions causing immune function impairment?
CoVid is NOT a threat to the population at large.
It is not true that there is no evidence of widespread Vitamin D deficiency in the population.
Just one citation: This study says, “Recent large observational data have suggested that ~40% of Europeans are vitamin D deficient, and 13% are severely deficient.”:
Really? There are numerous research papers that evidence widespread vitamin D deficiency in world populations.
These 2 are but an introduction: –
Vitamin D deficiency in Europe: pandemic? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26864360/ ; and
Prevalence and correlates of vitamin D deficiency in US adults. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21310306/
Just a little warning. You have to be careful as high doses of vitamin D3 can be toxic ( causing hypercalcaemia).
There’s no danger of hypercalcaemia with the Vitamin D dosages (4-5,000 IUs) recommended for strengthening the immune system. As a precaution many combine D with K2, which ensures that the calcium goes to the bones and teeth and not to tissue.
I wonder if some clever person could help me. A friend (just ) with whom I have a difference of opinion concerning the vaccine has just made this point to me: “Yes the MRNA vaccine is associated with an increased incidence of cardiac problems, but it is still very low, and the relevant comparator is not incidence of such problems in an unvaccinated and uninfected population, but the incidence in an unvaccinated population in which Covid spreads unchecked. By this measure the vaccines are an unambiguous boon.” He seems to be saying that since a virus exists, cardiac problems are ‘forgiveable’, given that they are caused by the thing that is designed to fight the virus. His implication is that the virus is so scary and dangerous that we should accept the “very low” incidence of harm currently being done and be thankful for the lives it saves, or something. Is that what he’s saying? Surely it only spreads unchecked until people are infected, after which natural immunity is a far better protection. Besides, it only “spreads unchecked” in a particularly harmful way in the very elderly part of the population, right? Opinions welcome. By all means contact me at illman.clive@gmail.com… Read more »
Has Tim Spector commented on this study?